863.1864.This Bauble was preferred of Bees –

This Bauble was preferred of Bees –
By Butterflies admired
At Heavenly – Hopeless Distances –
Was justified of Bird –

Did Noon – enamel – in Herself
Was Summer to a Score
Who only knew of Universe –
It had created Her –
…………………………………………………………………………

This from David Preest [©, 2012, ‘Analysis and notes of Emily Dickinson poetry: Notes on all 1789 of Emily Dickinson’s poems’, Unpublished and no longer available on the Internet]:

“Poem F863 ‘This Bauble was preferred of Bees’

“Judith Farr believes that the ‘Bauble’ of this poem is Sue. She was ‘preferred’ and ‘admired’ by the ‘bees’ and ‘butterflies’ of Amherst society, and even the bird that was Emily regarded her as good and ‘Heavenly’ – at a ‘Hopeless Distance.’ If only ‘Noon’ could have made this Bauble in lasting enamel, she could have been a whole Summer to a score of people who thought her the best thing in the world, instead of just the Bauble of a moment.”
……………………………………………………………………………………………….

Based on Judith Farr’s insight and David Preest’s reputation as an interpreter of Emily Dickinson’s poems, here is my biographical interpretation, with ED’s alternate words and phrase in {curly brackets}:

Stanza 1:

This Bauble was preferred of Bees –
By Butterflies admired {adored; desired}
At Heavenly – Hopeless Distances –
Was justified of Bird – {Of Bird – was justified -}

S1:

Sue’s wit and charisma attracts the admiration of Amherst’s social bees and butterflies. I, a little wren who admires Sue from a heavenly yet hopeless distance, find Sue’s personal charisma and poetic insights irresistible, but sometimes her empathy with others seems superficial.

Stanza 2:

Did Noon – enamel {enable; embellish} – in Herself
Was Summer to a Score
Who only knew of Universe –
It had created {afforded} Her –

S2:

If only Sue could embellish her party personality to shine light into the lives of a score of people, she could brighten their days, but Sue feels that the Universe created her for herself.
………………………………………………………………………………………

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After commenting on Poems 1-763 (Franklin) on The Prowling Bee’, I am convinced that (virtually) all of Emily Dickinson’s (ED’s) poems have a factual historical level in addition to their various poetic levels of meaning. The reason for her instant and continuing public adulation (1890 - present) was and is, by far, poetic. She is one of the "Greats" that she always dreamed to be, despite her lifelong refusal to publish. That refusal freed her from criticism and allowed her to explore the outer boundaries of poetic power.

More than a century of scholarly research has resulted in somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 books and published academic papers about ED. A large majority of these publications focus only on the “poetic levels” of one or more of ED’s poems. Publications that consider both the “historic level” and “poetic levels” comprise a small minority. Publications that focus only on the factual history of her life probably number less than 100. (All numbers in this paragraph are my estimates.)

Unfortunately for ED’s universe of readers, these two basic levels (historical and poetic) cannot be separated into two ivory towers. Every history-level publication that I know of includes at least some discussion of the poetic level(s).

The reverse is not true. In fact, authors of the “poetry-level” school seem to avoid commenting on the historical level, sometimes admonishing that a poem must stand on its own, without concern for its historical roots. To my knowledge, there are (virtually) no published “history-level” books or articles that totally ignore ED’s poems and their poetic levels.

Of course, ED’s refusal to publish her poems was only possible because of lifelong financial and daily social/housekeeping support by her family, especially her father and sister, respectively. In addition, throughout her life, the Dickinsons hired servants, first Negro and later Irish, some of whom became much more than housekeepers for ED.

My point is that our appreciation of ED's poems can be enhanced by understanding both poetic and historical levels of her sound and sense. We impoverish ourselves if we ignore their historical base.